Time, Stop
by askingofmiceandhorizons
Summary: A mysterious character is joining the Exorcist Cram School. She's seriously hard to figure out! Rin befriends this strange girl and discovers some of her past. What'll become of this? RinxOC. Teen for violence and language.
1. Chapter 1

**_Hey guys, whoa. I'm doing a blue exorcist fic. That's crazy! No, kidding. I've watched this anime about a million times and it's just perfect. I'm still going to work on my durarara! fanfic, but I'll probably switch between writing the chapters often. This chapter is a nice length, so I'm glad I'm writing it. Stay fresh 3_**

**_disclaimers: I don't own blue exorcist or it's characters, only my oc._**

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There I lay - un-able to move, face down on the cold wet earth, ready to give up.

I closed my eyes and heard a voice in the distance, I wondered if I'd reached my limits…Is this really the end?

"Shit! Are you okay?" The voice came closer and just like that I felt arms around me. They were so warm and comforting. It was something I hadn't felt in such a long time.

"Eh? She's burning…" He mumbled to himself, "Bon will know exactly how to help. Shit, don't die on me, woman…" My mind wandered elsewhere in the midst of his sentence.

Hearing voices, I snapped out of my trance, too weak to open my eyes.

Bon frowned, "EH, What the hell Okumura?"

Rin sighed, "Don't ask questions because I don't know. Just help!"

"She's burning up, shit, here."

"Bon, that's holy water." A new voice interrupted.

"It's all we've got."

And with that, the water splashed on me and I let out a painful scream as it burned me.

"Eh, Shit. What happened?"

(It hurts. Make the pain go away, Ani.)

"That hurt, damn it.."

I awoke in a dark room, near a boy whom was familiar. I quickly sat up and his response was immediate.

"You shouldn't be getting up, you're ill, damn it." It was the boy who saved me.

I was frail, but I stood up using every last bit of my energy, when I was in front of him I fell to my knees, exhausted, "Hey…Are you alright?"

I cupped my hands to his face, "Demon.." and placed my lips to his, moving away after approximately 5 seconds.

His eyes widened, "Just who… are you?"

A smirk appeared on my face, "Who am I? That's right…Who am I.."

My eyes wandered, "Damn it, don't play with my head!"

In the corner of my eyes, I studied him, "But I'm not."

"Where's your family?"

I scowled, "I don't know."

He sighed, "Never mind that then…What happened to you?!"

I kept my head low, "I'm just ill. It happens."

"Liar, there were clear marks on you, Bon healed them, so be grateful!"

I smiled softly, "Mm, Of course I am..."

"You didn't answer my question."

"I'll tell you sometime, Rin. Now where am I?"

He gritted his teeth, "Eh…but how did you.. Shit, never mind. You're in one of the empty dorms, it was the closest place to get you. Damn you're hard to figure out."

I stood up once again, straining myself, "Rin, take me to Mephisto Pheles. I need to speak to him, now."

"What are you thinking of going somewhere in the condition you're in?! Idiot!"

"Fine, I'll find him myself. It'll be awfully difficult if you don't help me though."

"Hell, fine. I'll help you." He said with a scowl.

"My names Akari."

"It's a pretty name… 'Light, brightness..' is that right?"

"Yee.."

We were at a place called "True Cross Academy," I knew it was the right place.

I walked in the room with my head low. Mephisto chuckled, "My, my, what brings this one here?"

I sucked in air, "I would like to be an exorcist."

He agreed without hesitation, "Interesting."

I walked out immediately.

"So what's your business with being an exorcist?"

"That's a secret, Rin."

"Friends shouldn't keep secrets. Stop being so damn mysterious.

"We should be friends." I said softly.

Rin nodded. "Okay, friend!"

"Eh, you mean it?" There was a spark in my eyes.

"Duh."

Once we stepped outside the academy, there was a large crowd of people. It frightened me, "I can't go."

"How are you going to be an exorcist whilst you're afraid of a crowd of people?"

"Demons aren't scary."

"People are more harmless then demons.."

"You're wrong, Rin. Humans are dangerous. In the sense that they're smart, have a wider variety of weapons…They're strong, and it's frightening to me."

"I understand where you're coming from.."

"Does this mean you have school?"

Rin nodded, "I won't go."

"Eh, but why?!"

"I don't feel like going today, and besides do you have anywhere to go? It would be stupid to leave you alone while you're in this condition."

I grabbed hold of his hand, and he blushed. "Alright, then. Are you going to make sure I don't die in this group of people?"

"This place is nice. It reminds me of the place my brother and I would always go to."

I dropped to the grass, Rin following.

"I thought you didn't know where your family was?"

"I don't."

"Eh..Where's your brother?"

"Gone. I saw with my own eyes, a human take away the life of an innocent child. My brother was the closest thing to a life I ever had.. He did nothing wrong.. It wasn't his fault. I was the burden on him…On our whole family. Why couldn't it be me?! He chased away all the bad things, and always came to my rescue…But it was always my fault. Why was he so stupid?!"

Rin stayed quiet, willing to listen to my rambling.

"After his death..Everything scared me. I could no longer stand to be near more than 15 people. I became ill. I was always in trouble, cast off, hurt, and it never stopped."

"Eh? You know, I should take you to Yukio, he could probably help.. Your illness could vaguely be demon-related.."

"Why save something that can't be saved? It's pointless, so there's no point in trying."

"You're wrong. Your brother would want you to carry on and be strong.."

Tears danced down my cheeks, "It was all my fault Rin, if only I hadn't been born, he wouldn't have died. He could have lived his life like a normal person."

"Why do you want to be an exorcist? Tell me."

"I want to be stronger, so no one has to get hurt because of me anymore."

"Akari, if you want to be an exorcist, to get stronger, you have to shape up. You can't be dwelling on the past, you can't allow yourself to sink."

"Mm, that's right. By the way, Rin, won't you get in trouble ditching school?"

"Yukio might rail on me, but he's just my kid brother anyways!" Rin chuckled.

I laughed quietly, placing my head on his lap, "I wish the sky always stayed this pretty. It'd be nice if time could stop."

"I think it's better if we always move forward. We cherish things because they could be gone someday."

"Rin has a soft spot!"

He smacked my head lightly, "Do not!"

_Time slowed itself down for once in my life._


	2. Chapter 2

**_Hey guys, chapter two. Quicker then I thought haha. The format of my stories is weird as hell and I don't even know why but it just bothers me. _**

**_I feel like this story is gon' be slow. But like. good. idk. I'm just really excited to write it. Reviews would be nice too ^_^ I'm just so happy that people are reading it (I hope.) Just to clarify, wherever there's lines in the story it's switching off from one character to another, so in this case the oc to rin and yukio. I might do that often, just so you can get a better feeler of what's going on and what people are thinking etc._**

**_disclaimer poop: I don't own aNe or it's characters. Just my oc._**

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"We should get back, it's getting late."

I nodded, sitting up and yawning. "I could've napped, you know."

"I could have cared less, you know?" Rin laughed.

"Ouch, my ego hurts now." I laughed too.

"Kidding, kidding." He said while walking back to the academy. I followed alongside and accidentally hit his hand. His face turned red again.

"Sorry, Rin."

"It's -" Rin was cut off, there was a boy with glasses running towards us at full speed. He smacked Rin across the head.

"Nee-san, what was so important that you had to ditch class?!" He exclaimed.

"I didn't think one day mattered, besides.."

I spoke up, "Besides, I had nowhere to go so Rin was just watching over me."

"Eh?! No, that's not it, Yukio! It would have been stupid to let her run around in the condition she's in."

"I'm fine, Rin." The boy looked confused and angry.

"Shut up. It's fine, just make sure you're in class tomorrow."

Me and Rin both saluted, "Yes, sir!" Then giggled.

Yukio was staring at me, "Why her?"

"Eh.. I'm joining the exorcist cram school starting tomorrow. Are you a teacher?"

"Mm. I am.." he said quietly.

"You're young, so you must be talented! Alright, teacher.. I'll do my best."

"Look at you, all spirited up." Rin chuckled.

"Shut up, Rin."

"Well, we're going home, See you Yukio!"

"Eh?! Why's she coming to our dorm?"

"Akio's got no place to go, idiot! " Rin stuck his tongue out at Yukio and blazed off.

I followed not long behind, laughing.

"It's gigantic.." I was in awe.

"Weird how we get the place all to ourselves, huh?" We walked in.

"Mm... Where do I go? It looks confusing."

"Anywhere, really." And with that he pointed me to the first dorm he saw and said that was mine.

"I'm worried about tomorrow, Rin. What are they like?"

"The students? They won't bite you. They're average, and won't say anything unless you're always falling asleep in class like me."

"You fall asleep in class? Lame!" I laughed.

"I know. They're all trying really hard to become exorcists.. I am too, but it doesn't seem like it."

"Yeah really, ditching class and falling asleep through all your lessons doesn't seem like its much effort. To the blind eye, that's what it looks like. Nobody can get in your head and know what you're thinking though; I know you've probably got a lot of determination."

"I do. I really want to become an exorcist, so I can kick Satan's ass."

My eyes widened, "That's a pretty big goal, you know." I laughed, "I think you can do it though."

His eyes sparkled, "You think so?"

I nodded, "Damn now I'm all fired up to work harder! Thanks, Akio."

I blushed, "No need to say thanks."

"Oh well!" he laughed.

"I'm going to go to bed." I said, lowering my head.

"Shouldn't you eat first? You're sick, you stubborn thing, you." He frowned.

"Not hungry. It's fine." I started to head to the dorm, and was abruptly stopped by Rin shouting.

"Well, then I'll make you a super awesome lunch for tomorrow!"

"Could you be any louder, Rin?" I laughed, "Good night."

I closed the door to my room and flopped down on the empty bed. For the longest time I just stared at the ceiling, wondering what cram school would be like, what the people would think of me. I didn't know how I was going to manage, when I couldn't even manage to sustain life itself.

Many times I felt like quitting, and I'm still unsure what stopped me. If only my brother were here, I would be stronger; but since he's not, I have to become stronger so that the ones I care about won't get hurt anymore.

"I wonder if they would all hate me, if they knew the truth." I rolled over and sighed.

"Ah, Yukio you're back."

Yukio unbuttoned his coat and placed it down on the chair in their room.

"What's with her, Rin?" Rin looked dumbfounded.

"What do you mean? There's nothing wrong with her…" Yukio sighed, pushing up his glasses and dropping to his bed.

"There's just _something_ off about her."

"Eh, like what? It's not like she's a demon or something! I would have seen that." Rin laughed.

"No, of course not…" Yukio replied.

"You know what, you're thinking too much about it, Yukio. Don't even worry. She's normal, I know she is." A smile appeared on his face.

"Alright – " Rin's face went red, "She's kind of pretty, you know?"

Yukio frowned, "Don't ask something like that, Nee-san… Now go to bed."

Rin chuckled and turned off the light.

"I'm thinking too hard about things, and now I don't want to go to cram school."

"_It'd be nice if time stopped now.."_


	3. Chapter 3

_**He-ho! I finally made the third chapter of my Blue exorcist fic. Sorry to keep you waiting ~~ **_

_**I really hope you enjoy, even though there's some plot holes that really need to be filled~ But I promise, they will. **_

_**Disclaimer poop: I don't own Blue exorcist or it's characters c:**_

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I was woken up by being violently shaken by Rin. "It's time to wake up, Breakfast and school! You're not allowed to skip out!" I glared at him when he was laughing, and Yukio just stood in the background with his arms crossed and tapping his foot angrily.

"Nee-san, do you have to be so rowdy this early in the morning?!" He scolded.

I got up, rubbing my eyes. My face turned red - Everyone was ready to go except me. I shoved Yukio and Rin out and closed my door, throwing everything on in less than a minute.

"All set! Let's goo~" Yukio and Rin frowned, whispering to eachother.

"Her shirt's on crooked.." Yukio complained.

"And her hair's a mess.." Rin followed.

I smacked them both, "Shut up!"

"That hurt, damnit!" Rin pulled at my hair.

We sat down at the breakfast table and I was amazed. The food smelt better than anything I'd ever eaten, even though it was just your average breakfast.

"Ouuwah.. Who made this?" I asked, my eyes sparkling.

"Ukobach." They both pointed to the kitchen and I saw two red eyes, when I approached, I saw an adorable stove elf demon kind of thing.

"EH? IT'S SO CUTE!" I hugged it tight to my chest and danced around.

"Well..She's lively this morning." Yukio didn't look very amused.

Rin was blushing, "Mm, I'm glad she's feeling better."

Yukio pushed his glasses up, "Rin, I'm heading out. See ya."

Rin blushed, "W-wait you're leaving me alone?!"

Yukio winked at Rin and went out the door.

"Er..Akio. We'd better go to school now."

I pouted, "Do we haaveee tooo? Riiin~" I was trying to pussy my way out of school, but it wasn't really going the way I planned it to.

Rin just blushed then hit me on the head, "I-Idiot! Of course we have to. I thought you wanted to become an exorcist?!"

I looked at my feet, sighing, "I do..But..There's people.. And I'm like socially awkward and people don't like me and I don't like school and there's just so many teachers and so much -" Rin covered my mouth while glaring at me.

"Oops, I was rambling.."

Rin stared at me with a serious look on his face, and I expected him to yell, but instead he gave a long inspiration speech about how I had to overcome my fears or I was never going to complete my goal. I had to be strong, it was the only way to protect the people around me.

Rin quickly took his hand off my mouth and apologized repeatedly, my face being red like a tomato.

When we got to the school, it was crowded with people. I slipped away from Rin and headed to Mephisto Pheles' office.

"School uniform."

Mephisto smirked, "What, no hello? It's a shame, it's been a long time too."

I scowled at him, "I won't associate with the likes of you, kindly shut up."

"_R00d_." Mephisto giggled off to himself and skipped back with a uniform. I walked to the door opening it, then realizing I had no clue where I was supposed to find somewhere to change.

"B-Bathroom..." I exclaimed, being agitated already. He showed me the bathroom and I changed as fast as possible. I didn't like the uniform much, but it was better than standing out among them all. That was the last thing I had wanted. I wandered around for a while, noticing that I had absolutely no idea where I was supposed to go..And again I was left having to talk to that idiot. I marched back up to Mephisto's office angrily and demanded to know where the exorcist cram school was. He gave me a key after he showed me where it was, and at that point I had already been around him long enough to make me want to throw up.

"Bye-bye." He said in a soft voice, sounding utmost evil. I shivered and entered the classroom.

There wasn't as many students as I expected there would be, but when I entered, all eyes were on me and my knees shook while my face turned bright red. I felt incredibly embarassed and scrambled my eyes looking for Rin. When I caught him, he was laughing at three boys who had turned their attention on me,and soon he turned his attention on me, much later then the three. He shouted my name and ran up to me, looking me up and down. I noticed he was blushing again. Perv.

"So, you finally got a uniform... It..It looks nice." He beamed.

"T-Thanks...Although I didn't enjoy that much time near Mephisto." I shivered again.

"You don't seem so scared! And the boys seem to like you." Rin skipped back to a seat, which had two chairs and a long desk. I sat down next to him and cringed as I felt eyes on me.

"T-This is really scary...They're staring at me, I know it." I whispered. Rin glanced behind us and threw a pencil at a pink haired boy.

"You're creeping her out, Shima." Shima blushed and looked away.

I smacked Rin on the head again, "Idiot."

He pulled at my hair, "Ouch damn it! That hurt, why'd you hit me?!"

"You're not supposed to single someone out, dummy! And it wasn't even just him..Everyone's looking."

He smiled at me, "Well that's because nobody knows you. Go and introduce yourself!"

I curled up in a ball in my seat and put a book over my head, "No."

He poked at me, "C'mon, you can't hide forever! They'll call your name and you'll _have _to speak."

I pushed his hand away and shrunk, "I refuse."

Yukio entered the class and glared at me, "Everyone. We have a new student in our class. Would you please come up to the front of the class?"

I set my book down and stared at him for a few seconds, then smiled, "I refuse."

Yukio's eyebrows furrowed and he repeated again, "We have a new student in our class. Come up to the front of the class."

I glared at him again, "I _refuse_."

Rin glanced back and forth between the two of us and smiled nervously, "C-Cmon Yukio..Er..She's just nervous."

Yukio smiled, "Alright then," My eyes sparkled when I looked at Rin as I was grateful that he bailed me out of the situation, "Rin you should accompany her. _Surely _she won't feel so nervous with a friend by her side." The last spark of happiness I had was shredded just like that. Rin pushed me up off my chair and lead me to the front of the class. I walked with my head down and Rin did the same. We were both embarassed.

I lifted my head and stared at everyone, I felt sick to my stomach. "Akio." I said with little enthusiasm and walked back to my seat, sulking as I sat back down.

"I hate your brother." I pouted.

Rin crossed his arms as he sat down, "Me too, actually."

I sat through class pissed off, watching the clock. In the corner of my eyes I noticed a girl with short blonde hair quickly looking away as I glanced over. I looked away and looked back and she glanced away once again. My temper was getting shorter by the second, but I decided to let her be. I swore that the class was endless, when I noticed Yukio standing at the door, speaking to someone.

"Alright, study hall for now. I have something to take care of."

Suddenly the pink haired boy cheered, and then started talking something about fortunes.

He took two girls fortunes, one being the girl who kept staring at me.

"Shima, could I get my fortune?" Rin beamed.

Shima laughed, "It only works on girls, sorry. What about your friend?" I looked up surprised, "Come on, I'll give you my birthday!"

"Not a chance, Rin!" and then Rin encouraged me to, saying that it was important that I make friends. I kept saying that I don't need friends, but Rin pushed on.

"So, what's your birthday?"

"December." I said quietly.

"No, I mean what day, too." He said, laughing a little.

I blushed a little, "Eh..20." I exclaimed, embarassed.

"Your blood type?" he asked once more.

"Seriously?! This is weird. I'm type...B.."

Shima grinned and did his fortune thing.

"Eh? It just says, "Not long"? Not long until what?!" Shima exclaimed with confusion.

My eyes widened, realizing this could mean a number of things...And that none of them were good.

I crossed my arms, upset with his cards, "Those cards are useless! Wrong, wrong, wrong!" I steamed.

I walked out of the classroom, everyone staring at me in shock.

"Oi, Akio! Wait up!" Rin chased after me.

He grabbed my hand, followed by blushing and letting go and then apologizing again.

"You don't have to apologize so much, Rin." I stared at the ground.

"Why did you get so upset? I mean, I understand the fortune was really stupid.. But -"

I snapped at him, "Rin, you don't understand! That fortune, what if it was right? What does, "not long" mean? It could mean anything, and everything that I can think of isn't good."

"Eh? What do you think it's supposed to mean?"

I sighed, "It's not important."

I had the idea that "not long" was referring to my life expectancy, but I could never tell Rin that.

Rin pouted, "Fine then. You'll tell me sometime. Anyway, it's a study hall, so we might as well go home, it's not like Yukio's coming back."

I smiled, "Mm, okay, I guess. Let's go home."


	4. Chapter 4

_**Hey all~ Another chapter. It's explanatory xD Hope you enjoy.**_

_**disclaimer: I don't own Blue exorcist.**_

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I stayed silent as we were walking home and Rin kept quiet as well. It felt like a long walk, and it was starting to get cold. Autumn was on it's way, I supposed. That meant the girl in my class' birthday was soon. It wasn't like I really cared much, though.

"It's almost Autumn." I said quietly.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. That means Izumo's birthday is coming up." He paused, laughing a little, "So, you going to help with a surprise party, or hide in a corner while everyone else does it?"

I blushed and smacked him on the head, "I-I don't know what that girl likes! What am I supposed to do?!"

Rin pulled my hair, like always, "That hurt you dummy! You don't have to get a present..er..You can help bake a cake!"

"I've never baked before..." I looked at my feet and trudged along, "You see, I can't be very useful.."

Rin flicked me on the nose, and I clutched my nose in pain, glaring at him.

"It'll be fun, really. It doesn't matter if you're good at it or not!"

"Fine, I'll help." Rin beamed at me and started cheering while I frowned at him.

"I wonder what Yukio had to leave class for..."

"Dunno, don't care. Your brother's evil."

Rin laughed, "He couldn't be evil even if he tried."

I laughed too, but didn't reply. Before I knew it, we were at the dorm.

"Home sweet home~" Rin exclaimed, dashing inside.

I walked inside, rolling my eyes at Rin.

"What is there to do? It's early."

"Eh? You're right. I think I'll go get some food for this week~ You stay here, and I'll be back! See ya!" Rin ran out the door again.

"YOU'RE LEAVING ME HERE?! Damn it, you idiot." I sighed and plopped down in a chair.

"What am I supposed to do now?" I placed my palm on my chin and stared out the window. There were so many things on my mind,it overwhelmed me. If only I could have returned to True Cross academy sooner. It worried me to be left alone with my thoughts.

About an hour had passed and Rin hadn't returned.

I rested my head on the table and watched the clock as my eyelids got heavier.

I opened my eyes, jolting up as I saw that time had passed. I had slept about a half hour.

I heard the door open and got a little excited, "Rin?! Welcome ba-"

It was Yukio instead.

"Not the person you were looking forward to seeing, sorry."

"Oh, um.. I didn't mean anything bad by it." I laughed nervously.

"Where's Rin gone to?" He raised his eyebrows.

"He went to get food for this week, and who knows what else. He ran out the door before I could yell at him."

There was a long silence, and then Yukio pushed his glasses up, and slammed his hand down on the table.

"Something's been bothering me, something just doesn't feel right."

I jumped, startled by the loud bang his hand made against the table, "Eh? What is it?"

"_It's you_."

My eyes widened, Yukio looking furious, "What did I do?"

"You tell me..I know nothing about you. I don't know where you're from, how you ended up here, and why you were the way you were when Rin found you, collapsed in the street. I don't know your last name, I don't know your past, or whether you're a threat. So tell me, why am I so bothered? Why do I feel like there's something weird about you?!"

I became furious, "What the hell are you getting at?!"

Yukio paused, lowered his voice and pulled out his gun, pointing it straight at me.

"_What are you_?"

I stared at my feet, my eyebrows furrowed, not knowing what to say.

"Don't point that fucking gun at me."

"Tell me then. What you are. Who you are."

"My name is Akio Amaya..I'm 16 years old. I don't know where I'm from. The place I was in before here was a cold, dark place. I lost everything in that place.. on that day.."

"Elaborate for me, Amaya. Tell me everything, or I have a right to believe that you're a threat."

I walked closer to him and pushed his gun down slowly.

"There's no need for that. I'll tell you.."

Yukio put his gun away and awaited my answer.

"I can't remember much. I remember..my brother. I'm very frail and weak, I would get sick easily, and my brother made sure I was always careful, safe, and cared for. He made things that were impossible for me to be possible. Life was fun, and colourful. I remember.."

I paused, " My brother. he went out on an errand on the coldest day of the winter. I was younger, and he told me to stay home, but I didn't listen!" I felt the life in my eyes dissapear slightly, speaking of it. I wouldn't cry about it, because I couldn't. Not listening was the biggest mistake of my life.

I continued, "I wanted to go to our special place, the place we'd always played at, the place that made us happy."

"I went out to wait for him there. My body started to feel heavy, and I felt tired, and breathless, and the next thing I knew I was laying in a bed of snow. I had collapsed, and was going to die. I could feel my life slowly slipping away."

Yukio kept a straight face and listened on, "I just wanted to make my brother happy... I laid there, getting weaker by the minute. My brother showed up, and he ran. I saw tears, and I could slightly hear him yelling my name, yelling at me for coming out there. He held me in his arms as I lay limp and almost lifeless. Then..what was it.." My eyes widened. I remembered. My brother hadn't been murdered, there was no one around.

I had swore I had heard a voice, but there was nobody there.

"Flames. Blue flames...They engulfed my brother as he was still holding me in his arms..and he began to scream with pain. I didn't know what was going on, I was confused, and scared. I can't ever forget the awful noise he made. He dropped me and collapsed,he died; and all of the sudden, flames began to engulf me. They filled me with life and the world was losing color, it painted itself once again. I thought I was going to die, I was frightened, but at the same time, I felt like I was in a safe place."

"You're a demon?!" I shook my head, reassuring him.

"They weren't my flames...I know that - but for some reason they didn't burn me, I was immune to them. They saved me. The flames saved me, but destroyed my brother. I don't understand. Ever since that, I've had..this flame, along with the strength to live.. I shouldn't be here, I know that; but I am, and that's that. I can't explain how, or why."

"Even so, I know these flames can't give me life forever. One day, they're going to burn out, and so will I with them.." I sighed, feeling exhausted.

"Well, based on that, what am I? Feel free to tell me."

He studied me, "I-I'm not sure. It's like.. you're half demon or something."

"Am I a threat?"

Yukio kept quiet, he was uncertain.

"Are you going to tell Rin?" I questioned, my voice quiet and weak.

"No, I'll keep quiet for now, if that's what you wish. You listened to me without a fight, so I'll respect your wishes."

"There are bad things in the world, and sometimes they overshadow the good things. It's hard to stay strong when you're in hell before you go to hell."

"I understand." Yukio interrupted, "Rin should be home soon. Maybe we should talk about this some other time."

"I agree." I went quiet and sat down, watching the clock.

Should winter come, I fear what'll become of me.

I felt like a time bomb, about to explode and destroy everything around me.

Rin came back, but I didn't feel like talking much anymore, so I stayed quiet.

"Welcome back, Rin. Do you need help carrying things?" Yukio offered in the distance.

I couldn't hear them all that well, since I was lost watching the hand on the clock turn.

"I'll make Sukiyaki tonight, Yukio! The grocery store had so many selections this week, I couldn't even decide. Akio, do you like Sukiyaki? It's really tasty~"

Rin shook my shoulder, "Hey, are you okay?"

I sat up, my eyes widening, "Sorry, I didn't realize you were talking to me. I was dazing off. What were you saying?"

"Are you alright?!" He slightly shouted at me.

I faked a smile and nodded, "I'm fine. Just a little tired, that's all. I think I'll head to bed early."

I stood up and started walking to my room, apologizing for leaving.

Rin and Yukio didn't say a word, and neither did I.

_I came to realize the world was slowly losing color again_.


End file.
